The present invention relates to an adjusting apparatus having an optical aimer that possesses a reflector for adjusting park of a motor vehicle, in particular distance warning radar, headlights, or an axle; having an emitting device that emits a collimated beam, and having a vertical adjusting device for aligning the reflector at a certain angle to a floor of a measuring station forming the contact plane of the vehicle.
German Published Patent Application No. 197 07 590 describes an adjusting apparatus for adjusting distance warning radar, a headlight, or parameters linked to an axle of a motor vehicle, this adjusting apparatus providing for an aimer having a reflector for light or electromagnetic radiation being positioned in front of the vehicle, e.g. for adjusting the headlight or distance warning radar, in order to use this to set the headlight or the distance warning radar exactly according to corresponding requirements. To this end, the reflector of the aimer must initially be oriented, e.g. exactly at a right angle to an axis of travel of the vehicle. For this purpose, the reflector, preferably a mirror that is appropriately coated to reflect radar waves, may be set at different horizontal and vertical angles. In order to align the aimer with the vehicle, an adjusting mirror, by which a line of sight is made to coincide with suitable reference points of the motor vehicle, is attached to the aimer. In particular, the adjustment of distance warning radar requires that the reflector be exactly perpendicular to the contact plane of the vehicle or the floor of the measuring station, the maximum tolerance being, for example, +/xe2x88x920.2xc2x0. Such vertical adjustment accuracy of the reflector is difficult to attain.
An attempt to make the floor of a measuring station suitably level has been made, in order to subsequently orient the reflector in the vertical direction. However, it is, in practice, very expensive and difficult to attain such evenness and quality of the measuring-station floor.
An object of the present invention is to provide an adjusting apparatus of the type mentioned at the outset, which allows the reflector to be accurately aligned at a certain tilt angle to the floor of the measuring station and, in particular, also allows it to be accurately aligned in the vertical direction with respect to the floor of the measuring station, in as simple and attainable a manner as possible.
According to the present invention, it is provided that the emitting device be positioned in a vehicle region remote from the aimer, at a particular, defined height of the vehicle above the floor of the measuring station, and be adjustable in order to emit the beam at different elevation angles with respect to a line parallel to the measuring-station floor; and that the vertical adjusting device have a diaphragm unit positioned between the aimer and the emitting device, the diaphragm unit having a vertically adjustable diaphragm, whose level is adjustable in such a manner that the beam directed towards the reflector and passing through the diaphragm passes through it again after being reflected at the reflector.
These measures allow the tilt angle of the reflector to be adjusted to be exactly perpendicular to the incident beam, and thus, adjusted in a selective manner. If, for example, the emitting device is secured in position with respect to a rear wheel, at the level of its axle, and the diaphragm is adjusted to a corresponding level and positioned next to the front wheel on the same side of the vehicle, while the aimer having the reflector is positioned laterally in front of the vehicle, as an extension of the line from the emitting device through the diaphragm, then the angle of the reflector with respect to the floor of the measuring station is exactly 90xc2x0, when the beam reflected by the reflector travels through the diaphragm. In this connection, the width of the diaphragm aperture approximately corresponds to the diameter of the collimated beam.
Simple handling with a simple design of the adjusting apparatus is obtained by supporting the reflector at a support of the aimer, so as to swivel about a horizontal axis, attaching the emitting device to a vehicle wheel as an extension of a wheel axis, with the aid of a holding device, and positioning the diaphragm next to a further wheel, on a support standing up on the floor of the measuring station, so as to be displaceable and securable in an adjusting position.
Simple and definite adjustability is achieved in that the diaphragm is a slit diaphragm running horizontally, and the emitting device is a laser unit. In this context, the horizontal slit diaphragm and the laser beam simplify the adjustment.
An embodiment that is favorable for the design and handling provides for the diaphragm being formed in an essentially rectangular plate having at least two parallel, vertical guideways spaced apart from each other and a clamping screw guided in a vertical slot.